Chisoxfn

Welcome aboard. I'll get this thing pinned right now. Hopefully Danks can make some adjustments, but either way, I think it should be expected that Danks would have his struggles. He's such a phenomenal athlete though and a smart kid so he'll get things figured out and will definately spend all of 2009 in Birmingham.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ May 20, 2009 -> 06:10 AM) Escobar just turned 20 in January. I'm fine with him playing the year out in Kanny. If he needs to repeat it next year for the year or just part of it so be it. But i'd say let him adjust there rather than go down to Rookie ball where he excelled already last year. Escobar is in a similar spot to Gilmore. Let him play, he's still young and in Escobar's case he's got a very very nice defensive skill-set, the big question, is whether he'll be able to hit. If he can't, you might be talking about the next Pedro Lopez and thats not a knock, one of the sickest minor league combo's I've ever seen defensively involved Lopez.

QUOTE (BearSox @ May 19, 2009 -> 08:07 PM) IIRC, he was drafted last year out of Florida St (In like the 13 round or something like that). I think he was their saturday starter. He was really solid for them, but nothing spectacular. If I had to guess, I'd say he probably profiles to another no. 4 or 5 pitcher at best. Wasn't Sauer an ASU go or am I confusing him for someone else? I swear I've seen him pitch a couple times against the Titans.

QUOTE (scenario @ May 19, 2009 -> 07:07 PM) Nice outing for Stephen Sauer in Kanny's 5-1 win. 6 innings; 1 run (unearned) on 4 hits; 9 K's and 0 BB's. And Jon Gilmore went 3-4 at the plate. Interesting to look at Sauer's strikeouts and walks... on the season... 35 K's and 1 BB in 25 innings pitched. I always liked him at ASU.

QUOTE (flavum @ May 19, 2009 -> 07:01 PM) Jon Gilmore 9-15 his last four games. Up to .211. Good considering where he was. No one in the org would tell you that Gilmore is seasoned, but he's got tons of raw power and the Sox love him. And I mean love him. Glad to see him getting a role cause he's got some massive power potential and is the Sox best third base prospect (note that I'm saying that strictly because I don't consider Viciedo a 3rd base prospect, rather a LF or 1B prospect). And than of course Josh Fields isn't a prospect anymore.

Rice has been a pitching farm-house and your right, off the top of my head I can't think of a ton of positional players going early in the draft out of Rice. That said, he's done a good job handling Rice's pitching staff. The question is how involved Seastrunk is in calling pitches and stuff since at the collegiate level, 98% of the time the calls come from the dugout.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 19, 2009 -> 08:03 PM) I thought the new catch in the draft was if you couldn't sign a guy, you got the same pick in the next draft? Nope you move down one slot. The newer thing was that it expanded to the first three rounds, I believe. I just know the Nats are picking 10th this year for not signing Aaron Crow and had the 9th pick last year.

QUOTE (Molto @ May 19, 2009 -> 06:47 PM) Reading can be fun. I never said Poreda reminding me of Liriano and Wood. caufield was asking me about guys I've seen pitch who I wasn't fond of mechanically. Liriano and Wood were two guys, not two guys who remind me of Poreda. And I will also agree that Mario has made those comments and is very consistent about things. Mario, its good having you hear, you might be one of the few that can keep my dumbass blow thing up comments in check too, haha.

Ozzie shouldn't be fired. I'm frustrated with whats going on as a fan but as I calm down here, I also realize that he can't exactly snap when the team isn't performing due to putting out a lot of guys that just flat out aren't major leaguers or aren't quite ready to produce. He's still the right man for the job.

Now put on a winning streak and lets be able to close my thread. This team still has a shot, but its got to put together a nice little winning streak and get the mojo back. The big keys will be Danks, Floyd and Richard's outings, imo.

Crede had some spasms but it wasn't anything serious.

I say post it. Or at least snippets of it.

QUOTE (Cali @ May 19, 2009 -> 05:02 PM) I'm smelling a big game for Beckham tonight.... It smells a bit like teen spirit.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 19, 2009 -> 04:59 PM) Neanderthals are actually not going to be a strong link between Homo-Sapiens and apes. Neanderthals were an offshoot, they were a line that broke off from the developing line and settled in Europe something like 100,000 years ago. They stayed confined to Europe until modern humans emerged from Africa about 30,000 years ago and then they rapidly disappeared. They may have been killed, there may have been some limited inter-breeding, but there's not going to be a "missing link" between those groups. In human evolution, there are lots of false starts...groups that diverged from whatever the main population was doing, evolved to some level on their own, and then died off. Neanderthals are one of them. There is also a long list of other species between modern humans and apes, much of which we can trace the lineage of through fossils. A sampling (not complete) is found in this graph. There are others beyond this. You said it so much better than I did.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ May 19, 2009 -> 04:47 PM) I thought "the missing link" we were looking for was between aps and neanderthals. or neanderthals and homosapian. Neanderthals and Homosapians are two different species that lived at the same time. Or at least that is the most popular theory.

QUOTE (Molto @ May 19, 2009 -> 01:41 PM) There was definitely more expectations for Wells. I don't like Poreda for his mechanics, others don't like him because he has only one pitch. In Wells case, he was right physically and had good stuff. Mentally was his issue, which a lot of the times you never know until they hit the majors. Cooper would have been a great fit for Wells.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 19, 2009 -> 01:37 PM) Nope, comparing Poreda to Wells, although I think the expectations for Kip were even higher, especially at that time period where even the likes of Snyder and Parque looked really good compared to 1998. I guess your thinking is that he is a sure-fire bust...well, only KW knows if that's the consensus viewpoint of the rest of the organization, but we certainly have to find another GM that believes the opposite of you with just as much conviction. With everything being so modernized, I'm sure they have diagnostic computerized simulation programs that can determine exactly the torque on the elbow and shoulder that any given motion produces. One would think they could smooth or straighten out his mechanics and maintain his velocity, unless that velocity resulted from performance-enhancing drugs, which we have no reason to believe. Oh and its not that easy to change someones delivery, not at all. Just a minor tweak is very difficult which is why the best thing most pitching coaches can do is play the mental game. Very few make very serious adjustments and if there were computer programs out there, I think we'd see arm injuries come to a shrieking halt.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 19, 2009 -> 01:37 PM) Nope, comparing Poreda to Wells, although I think the expectations for Kip were even higher, especially at that time period where even the likes of Snyder and Parque looked really good compared to 1998. I guess your thinking is that he is a sure-fire bust...well, only KW knows if that's the consensus viewpoint of the rest of the organization, but we certainly have to find another GM that believes the opposite of you with just as much conviction. With everything being so modernized, I'm sure they have diagnostic computerized simulation programs that can determine exactly the torque on the elbow and shoulder that any given motion produces. One would think they could smooth or straighten out his mechanics and maintain his velocity, unless that velocity resulted from performance-enhancing drugs, which we have no reason to believe. Kip was a much much better prospect than Poreda. He had a nice fastball and a big time curve ball. Poreda has a very poor delivery but it works and the biggest thing is the sinking action he gets on his fastball. Without the secondary stuff people are setting themselves up for dissapointment expecting much anything out of him as a starter.

Here's the top end guys that Boras is currently set to represent: Stephen Strasburg - RHP - SDSU Dustin Ackley - OF - UNC (starting to play CF) Nick Green - SS - USC Donovan Tate - OF - Georgia (High School) James Paxton - LHP - Kentucky Andy Oliver - LHP - Oklahoma State Jacob Turner - RHP - High School (one of the top 5 prep pitchers in the draft)

You have to wonder if people don't like his stuff as much because of the fact that he doesn't feature the good fastball and is already so developed or if its really because his other pitches aren't that good. I've seen him pitch and he made guys look ridiculous in college. Not in the Strausburg sense but he still had a great handle of things and his velocity is good enough. I'd say he's a more complete version of Broadway as opposed to McCulloch and I expect him to be off the draft board when the Sox pick. Not a power pitcher but a shot to be a #2 or #3 and that ain't bad. I probably pass on him though if he was around at 23, but it depends on what else is out there.

QUOTE (BearSox @ May 19, 2009 -> 01:41 PM) I think I'm officially in the boat for A.J. Pollock at pick no. 23. I love going college pitching, but I also love Pollock a lot. If the projectable lefties are gone, I take Pollack and than go heavy on the high upside, more raw pitchers that will be available in rounds 2-6.

More Stuff from BA, relating to a guys the Sox have been linked to (more through speculation than anything else, but mocks have had these guys as potential Sox targets): And below is why I'm excited to have the supplemental and additional 2nd round pick's:

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ May 19, 2009 -> 01:07 PM) Anyone know who the MVP of the Cape Cod League was last year? Pretty sure it was USC SS, Grant Green. He's not lived up to expectations this year and I've heard talk of him falling on draft boards but there's still a few teams considering him in the top 5 and Pads at #3 have been linked to his name a lot as they apparently are planning on going cheap in the draft.

An interesting couple bullet points from BA:

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 19, 2009 -> 12:58 PM) Would love to hear your ideas about where we're going to get two front-line starters between now and the start of the 2010 season? Contreras and Colon will be gone...Danks is looking (for now) like his late 2007 version before they shut him down and Floyd is abysmal. Let's say Floyd becomes a serviceable 5 starter and Danks a 3 starter and Buehrle doesn't ever show signs of wear and tear or go down with injury for the first time in his career...we still have to find a 1-2 starter and a 4. Richard or Poreda might be the 4. Might. The 4 can be found, but the 1-2 guy that Danks was the second half and Floyd for much of the first half...well, they just don't grow on trees. Why the heck do they need two front of the rotation starters? Danks and Floyd are the guys, like it or not, the Sox have to hope they pan out cause if not, than the whole rotation is a mess. Buehrle fits as well, so your talking about 2 spots and no, moving Jenks or Thornton isn't an option. Jenks makes way too much and all your doing is risking him losing his value or getting hurt and Thornton doesn't have the skill-set to start. Find one starter via FA, hope you can acquire another starter and than slowly get Hudson added to the mix, but the reality is you don't sit around and wait casue the Sox don't have any starting pitching prospect that you can just pencil into the rotation for the next 5 years.